Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a damage amount determination device, an image forming device, a computer-readable recording medium storing a damage amount determination program, and a damage amount determination method, more specifically, to a damage amount determination device, an image forming device, a computer-readable recording medium storing a damage amount determination program, and a damage amount determination method, which determine an amount of damage caused by paper to a predetermined component of an image forming device.
Description of the Related Art
In general, high-quality paper is used as a print medium of an image forming device. Bleached pulp is used for the high-quality paper. Therefore, in the high-quality paper, the addition amount of white filler that increases the whiteness is small.
By the way, the use of recycled paper as a print medium increases year by year due to the heightened awareness of the environmental problems in recent years. To enhance environmental protection and use of waste paper, moves such as raising the blending ratio of the waste paper in the recycled paper and reviewing the whiteness of paper are becoming active.
In the standard for goods qualified by Green Purchasing Law and the accreditation criteria of Eco Mark, the whiteness of paper is prescribed as an item of criteria. For example, for the recycled paper, ISO whiteness is set to about 70% which is lower than a normal ISO whiteness of 80%. According to the recycled paper having an ISO whiteness of about 70% (hereinafter simply referred to as recycled paper), it is possible to reduce burden on both the environment and the quality. Specifically, according to the recycled paper, it is possible to maintain the quality by pursuing the ISO whiteness to the extent not to cause any problem in use. Further, it is possible to reduce the environmental burden due to a bleaching process because of reduction of the white filler and it is also possible to reduce the environmental burden by using the waste paper.
On the other hand, in recent years, chances to use paper imported from abroad (hereinafter referred to imported paper) are increasing. To obtain whiteness and opacity, more white filler is added to such imported paper than that added to the high-quality paper and the recycled paper.
The three types of paper as described above cause different amounts of damage to consumables such an intermediate transfer belt and a fixing roller when the paper passes through the consumables in an image forming device. More specifically, for example, calcium carbonate is used as the white filler. The particle size of the calcium carbonate is large, and the particle is hard and has sharp points. Therefore, when the paper passes through the consumables of the image forming device, if the paper is pressed against the consumables, the white filler causes damage to the consumables. Therefore, the imported paper containing a relatively large amount of white filler causes an amount of damage to the consumables, which is greater than the amount of damage caused by the high-quality paper and the recycled paper.
However, a conventional image forming device manages the lifetimes of consumables by the number of printed sheets of paper and does not manage the lifetimes of consumables by considering the types of printed sheets of paper. Therefore, the lifetimes of the consumables are set based on paper that causes a relatively large amount of damage. Thus, when many sheets of paper that causes a relatively small amount of damage, such as the high-quality paper and the recycled paper, are printed, there is a risk that the image forming device determines that a lifetime of a consumable is ended and prompts to replace the consumable even though the lifetime of the consumable is not actually ended. Therefore, it is desired that the image forming device identifies the type of paper, determines the amount of damage according to the type of paper, and accurately manages the lifetimes of consumables.
As a method of identifying the type of paper, for example, there is a method of checking the amount of paper powder generated when conveying the paper. More specifically, a relatively small amount of paper powder is generated when conveying the high quality paper and the recycled paper. On the other hand, a relatively large amount of paper powder is generated when conveying the imported paper. Therefore, it can be considered to identify the type of paper by checking the amount of paper powder generated from the paper when conveying the paper. As an invention for checking the amount of paper powder generated from paper when conveying the paper, for example, an electrophotographic printing device described in JP 2009-20370 A is known.